Resources:

Community Based Monitoring (CBM) and Citizen Science

An Atlas of Community-Based Monitoring is mantained by the Inuit Circumpolar Council and includes information on CBM at communities throughout the Arctic.

The Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team (COASST) operates in many of the same communities that we do. It is run out of the University of Washington, and trains coastal residents to conduct monthly surveys of beaches.

BeringWatch is a database developed by the Island Sentinel Programs on St. Paul and St. George Islands, Alaska.

The Alaska Ocean Observing System (AOOS) has a long list of other Community-Based Monitoring Programs in Alaska.

Long Term Monitoring

Map showing the location of station GAK1

Long-term monitoring sites are valuable in so many ways. Though our program has just begun, we can take inspiration from the GAK1 time series, at the mouth of Resurrection Bay near Seward, AK. Sampling there began in 1970, making this 44 year long record one of the longest running oceanographic time series in the North Pacific.

Equipment

CastAway CTD

We began our data collection with the YSI CastAway conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) datalogger for our primary measurement instrumentation because it:

Automatically records a GPS time and location fix with each cast
Measures temperature (+/- 0.05 °C) and salinity (+/- 0.1 PSU) with sufficient accuracy for the coastal environment
Can profile to 100 m depth
Has a fast (5 Hz) sample rate
Has sufficient memory to internally store over 750 casts
Has wireless Bluetooth data communications, removing need for computer cables and reducing the risk of connector leaks

RBR Concerto CTD

Currently, we are transitioning to an RBR Concerto conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) datalogger because it:

Downloads data via Wi-Fi,
Has a more reliable salinity sensor in shallow water,
Includes a mobile app that can theoretically integrate data with a GPS receiver using an iPad or Android phone or tablet.